Claudias
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Claudias or Qlaudia (; ; ) was a fortress in the
Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...
and, by extension, its district. Its precise location is now unknown. Claudias was an ancient fortress, possibly identical with the Claudiopolis mentioned by
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
in his '' Historia naturalis'' (AD 77). This lay somewhere between Melitene and
Samosata Samsat (, Ottoman Turkish صمصاد ''Semisat''), formerly Samosata () is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
,
Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...
(as ''Laudias''), the ''
Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...
'' and the ''
Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tablesJames Strong (theologian) , James Strong and John McClintock (theologian) , John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Bibli ...
'' (as ''Glaudia''). It guarded the valley of the
Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
below Melitene and towards
Anzitene Antzitene or Anzitene (, ) was a region of the medieval Armenia c. 300–1000, known in Armenian as Hanzith and in Syriac as Hanzit. Today it lies in Turkey. From 384, it formed one of the satrapies of Roman Armenia, before becoming part of ...
. It may be identified with Kerar Kalesi in
Pütürge Pütürge or Pötürge () is a municipality and district of Malatya Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,086 km2, and its population is 12,492 (2022). The mayor is Mikail Sülük ( AKP). Composition There are 68 neighbourhoods in Pütürge Distric ...
. Claudias changed hands several times during the early
Arab–Byzantine wars The Arab–Byzantine wars or Muslim–Byzantine wars were a series of wars from the 7th to 11th centuries between multiple Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim Arab Caliphates conquered large parts of the Christian Byzantine empir ...
. Most of
northern Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia constitutes the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been known by ...
came under Arab rule in 637–642. The governor (''epitropos'') of Claudias in the late 7th century was a certain John, mentioned in the ''Life'' of
Theodotus of Amida Theodotus of Amida (died 15 August 698) was a Syriac Orthodox monk, bishop and holy man. Theodotus was born in the village of Anat near the city of Amida in Roman Mesopotamia before the Arab conquest of 637–642. After developing an interest in a ...
. The Emperor
Constantine V Constantine V (; July 718 – 14 September 775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able military leader, Constantine took advantage of Third Fitna, civil war ...
captured Claudias from the Arabs and razed it in or about 755. The Christian population was transferred to
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
. The Caliph
al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ‎; 714 – 6 October 775) usually known simply as by his laqab al-Manṣūr () was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 754 to 775 succeeding his brother al-Saffah (). He is known ...
took and rebuilt it in 757 or 758. The Byzantines recaptured it in the early 10th century. It is mentioned in the late 10th-century Byzantine treatise on skirmishing, ''
De velitatione bellica ''De velitatione bellica'' is the conventional Latin title for the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine military manuals, military treatise on skirmishing and guerrilla warfare, guerrilla-type border warfare, composed circa 970. Its original Gre ...
''. By the late 11th century, it had passed into the hands of the
Danishmendids The Danishmendids or Danishmends () were a Turkish dynasty. These terms also refer to the Turkish state in Anatolia. It existed from 1071/1075 to 1178 and is also known as the Danishmendid Beylik (). The dynasty was centered originally around Siv ...
. By that time it had declined in value as a fortress. Sources later than the 11th century refer only to the region and only on the basis of earlier writings. Claudias is already mentioned as a district (Syriac ''athro d-beth qlawdiyoye'') in the 6th-century ''Life'' of Barsauma (died c. 458) and the 8th-century ''Life'' of Theodotus.. For a map showing the district, see , fig. 2. In 1066, some
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
settled in the region. It is frequently mentioned in the later Syriac sources,
Michael the Syrian Michael the Syrian (),(), died AD 1199, also known as Michael the Great () or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as th ...
and
Bar Hebraeus Gregory Bar Hebraeus (, b. 1226 - d. 30 July 1286), known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Barebraya or Barebroyo, in Arabic sources by his kunya Abu'l-Faraj, and his Latinized name Abulpharagius in the Latin West, was a Maphrian (region ...
. In the 13th century, Yāqūt believed that Ptolemy was a native of Claudias and called him al-Qalawdī. The 14th-century Persian writer
Ḥamd-Allāh Mostawfi Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini (; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and the interregnum that followed. A native of Qazvin, Mustawfi belonged to famil ...
refers to Erqalawdiya as a fortress and a fertile region, but he is relying on early sources.


See also

*
Qlaudia (West Syriac diocese) Qlaudia (or Claudia) was a diocese in the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan province of Melitene (Malatya), attested between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. Sixteen Jacobite bishops of Qlaudia are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or Bar Hebra ...


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{refend Taurus Mountains Upper Mesopotamia Byzantine fortifications in Turkey